Biography

Early life

Mirza Ahmad Sohrab was born "about 1894" (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 21), to a family who were already, or very shortly became Baha'i. Sohrab was born near Esphahan in the village of Isfahan Province, Persia (now Iran). Sohrab's father Abdu'l-Baghi was a descendent of Muhammad. Abdu'l-Baghi was a farmer "possessed of broad lands" and also chief dyer of the town. Both sides of Sohrab's family, his mother and his father, claimed descent from the Imam Husayn, grandson of Muhammad. His mother died when Sohrab was a few months old, while she herself was still a teenager, and he was taken to live with his maternal grandmother in Isfahan. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 25)

After the family had become Baha'i, they were persecuted by the citizens of the town and Sohrab with a maternal uncle, left his grandmother's home forever. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 38) He and his uncle traveled about the countryside as doctors, and now and then meeting other Baha'is. By instruction from Abdul Baha, he and his uncle parted company, the uncle returning to Esphahan, while Sohrab went on to meet Abdul Baha in Acca. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 48) Here he was put to work, copying, and reciting the words of Baha U'llah, but where he stayed only 39 days before moving on to Port Said. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 56)
In Port Said, Sohrab worked selling merchandise, for Ahmad Yasdi who kept a store there. While living here, he studied the Bible with "...a Scottish lady who ran a missionary school." (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 60) It was here that he met "...another Baha'i teacher, the greatest of them all. Mirza Abul Fazl of the College of Tehran..." who invited him to come to America with him.(My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 62 However Sohrab had first to train a replacement for the shop and he did not leave until nine months later, bound for Washington, D.C. but stopping first in New York City where he addressed a small group of Baha'i.

Abdul Fazl

When he first arrived in Washington, D.C. he was a cook and errand boy for Abdul Fazl, while Ali Kuli Khan served as interpreter. In the summer they went to Green Acre, Maine, where he met many of the initial pioneers of the Baha'i Faith in America (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 69). He names some of these in his Autobiography on page 70 (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 70). After three years in America, Abdul Fazl was requested to come back to Haifa by Abdul Baha, but Abdul Baha privately told Sohrab to stay in America if possible. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 72) He lived in New York City for three months, cleaning rooms in a boarding house, followed by a term of homelessness, and then a job as a busboy for about nine more months. It was at the end of this time, that he met the new Persian Minister to the U.S., Mam-Taz-Ol-Mulk, and was offered a position with him. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 77)
During his time in Washington, D.C., he also became correspondent to "...two Persian magazines, the one published in Calcutta, the other in Cairo. These articles of mine, dispatched weekly, dealt with politics and education...." It was also at this time, that Sohrab began receiving letters from Abdul Baha to translate, and he states that he would always keep a copy of these. He also says that "...American letters written to the Master were addressed to me, to be dispatched to Acca...." (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 82) "During this period, hundreds upon hundreds of letters designated for the American Bahais came from the Master, and several decades later, these were bound in volumes and placed on the shelves of the Record Room in Caravan House." (My Bahai' Pilgrimage, page 83)

Abdul Baha

After three years, the Minister was recalled to Persia, it was at this time, sometime before or during 1911, that Sohrab had founded an organization called the Persian-American Educational Society, which among other things, set-up a scholarship program to teach Persian children.(My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 87) Around this same time, Sohrab founded a bi-lingual journal, in Persian and English, named Bahai News. On 13 Nov 1911 Sohrab sailed to Europe "in the interests of his work". (The Washington Post, 13 Nov 1911, p.4). This was evidently in response to where Sohrab states "...Abdul Baha instructed me to meet him in Paris." Abdul Baha, gave him three thousand dollars and instructions "...for any necessary work, prepatory to his arrival." Sohrab returned to Washington, D.C. where he created a group of writers to create booklets containing a resume of the teachings and mailed them to institutions, colleges, and universities throughout the United States and Canada.

This resulted in many invitations for Abdul Baha to speak, 250 requests had been received and a schedule of appearances was created. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 90) "In the Record Room at Caravan House are to be found thirty one volumes of press clippings that appeared in the newspapers and journals of the United States during this momentous trip. The publicity was extraordinary." (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 95)

Abdul Baha first came to New York City, arriving on 11 Apr 1912 on the S.S. Cedric. for his speaking tour which criss-crossed the United States from this time, until they left for England on 5 Dec 1912. They then visited Scotland, France and Germany before returning to Port Said. Sohrab would continue as secretary and interpreter to Abdu'l-Baha until 1919, with instructions to also memorize all of Abdul Baha's tablets. When World War I ended and letters could flow freely, the Bahai's in Palestine learned that the American Baha'is had been quarreling, ostracizing one another, had formed a "Committee of Investigation", and were persecuting the innocent in public. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 111) Abdul Baha instructed Sohrab to go to American and address these problems, Sohrab left the compound on 22 Dec 1918. He would never see Abdul Baha again. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 113) Sohrab came to the United States in time for the 11th annual Baha'i Convention, and remarks on the stumbling blocks put in his path by certain Baha'is, whom he does not name, but he does name those who helped him. (My Baha'i Pilgrimage, page 114)

Marriage

It was while accompanying Abdul Baha in 1912, that Ahmad briefly met and began wooing Juanita Marie Storch, when she was brought by her father to meetings with Abdul Baha in Oakland and San Francisco in 1912. (A more full biography of Juanita is "Juanita Maria Storch", by Will Johnson.) Juanita was the daughter of Hugo William Storch (1873-1917), an architect, and his wife Johanna Thee. Hugo had been born in Mexico of Bohemian immigrants, while Johanna was born in Germany. The family at that time was living in Oakland, Alameda County, California. Since Sohrab returned to Palestine, the wooing took place long-distance by means of "five hundred letters". The coming of World War I, put a temporary halt to the letters as they were apparently being confiscated or at least not allowed through the lines, but at the end of the war, the lovers re-made their acquaintance (see Oakland Tribune, 26 Dec 1919).

In the meantime, Juanita had moved to Santa Rosa, California. They were married in New York on 28 Apr 1920 (The Oakland Tribune, 27 Jun 1920, The New York Times, 29 Apr 1920 here).

The story of their long and long-distance courtship, intercepted mail, and his many love letters which never made it to her, captivated a number of newspaper who made comment upon it. For example the Sandusky Star Journal (Sandusky, Ohio) on 29 Apr 1920 said : "New York - East met west here today with the marriage of Ahmad Schrab, former secretary to the Persian legation and Juanita Storch, Santa Rosa, Cal. Schrab could have a harem in his own town but preferred one American girl."

While the Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, NY), 20 Jun 1920 went over the top, devoting three-fourths of a page to a photo of guests, a large picture of Juanita, a smaller one of Sohrab, and a long article here, which I will transcribe here.

Ahmad and Juanita had one child, a girl Laila J in 1921. Ahmad and Juanita were divorced either while Juanita was pregnant or within a year after Laila was born. A site visitor tells me that Laila never met her father. In his autobiography, writen about 1929, Ahmad mentions neither Juanita nor his daughter Leila.

In the 1930 census Juanita Sohrab and her daughter Laila are living with her mother Johanna Storch in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. Juanita and Laila lived for some years in Santa Rosa, with Laila showing up in Passenger Lists giving her address as Santa Rosa, at late as 1953. Juanita Storch wrote an article in the Oakland Tribune, 5 Aug 1945 discussing her father Hugh W Storch's work on the "Diamond Adobe"

They moved eventually to Seattle, where the Social Security Death Index shows Juanita living with Laila, but Juanita either moved back to Sonoma County or at least died there in 1995. Laila was still living in Seattle as late as 2002 under the name "Laila Storch".

Although Sohrab wrote an Autobiography which covers his life up to when he joined up with Mrs Julia Chanler, he does not appear to mention his wife nor daughter, which is perhaps a bit odd.

A site visitor tells me that : "Laila Storch, the daughter of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, has lived in Seattle for many decades, and has been a lifetime member of the Baha'i Faith. She is a retired music professor from the University of Washington (oboe). You can find quit a few references to her career online. She never knew her biological father, M.A. Sohrab, because her mother separated and divorced Sohrab before she was born or while she was still an infant. I have met Laila a number of times through the years and she really knows nothing about her biological father other than what everyone else knows from books, and she really prefers not to discuss him. The marriage of Laila's mother, Ms. Juanita Storch to Sohrab was written about and photographed for either Baha'i News or Star of the West magazine, I forget which. The late Juanita Storch also wrote memoirs about her meeting with 'Abdu'l-Baha (World Order, 25.1 ; Fall 1993)."

A site visitor tells me that : "Laila Storch is married to violinist Martin G. Friedmann. Her daughter from that marriage is violinist Aloysia Cecile Friedmann who married pianist Jon Kimura Parker in 1998. (For a number of years, Laila went by the name Laila Friedmann so far as the Seattle Baha'i records show, but for about the past twenty years has gone by the name Laila Storch)."

A site visitor tells me that : "Just to mention that Laila Storch has just this summer published (through Indiana University Press) a biography on her eminent oboe teacher at the Curtis Institute, "Marcel Tabuteau: How Do You Expect to Play the Oboe If You Can't Peel a Mushroom?" This book is the result of ten years of research and work, and I understand the first printing is close to selling out. Laila and her husband, retired Seattle Symphony violinist Martin Friedmann, live part of the year in Seattle and part of the year on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington, where she serves on the board of directors of the award-winning and highly acclaimed Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, which was founded by and is under the artistic direction of her daughter, Aloysia Friedmann. The Festival has just completed a wildly successful eleventh season with eight sold-out concerts. Aloysia is married to internationally renowned Canadian concert pianist Jon Kimura Parker, who solos with major orchestras and in recitals around the world and teaches at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston."

The Oxnard Daily Courier, 29 Sep 1924 reports :"Mr and Mrs Charles Weaver and Miss Bernice Weyham, who is a personal friend of Mirzah Ahmad Sohrab, former secretary to the Persian legation at Washington D.C. will entertain Mr Sohrab Thursday of this week. Mr Sohrab will appear on the Ventury county fair program Thursday.... He chants the hymns and prayers of Persian seers."

The Oxnard Daily Courier, 2 Oct 1924 reports : "Ahmad is at present doing research work for several of the large Hollywood movie studios and is advisor for costuming pictures such as 'Thief of Bagdad'."

Meets Julia Chanler

Meanwhile, Ahmad moved to Los Angeles, where he helped write a scenario for a movie dealing with Mary Magdalene, for the actress Valeska Surratt, who was herself a Baha'í. Valeska sued Cecil B. Demille and others in federal court in 1928 for plagiarism, and mentioned that Sohrab had helped her write the play. (New York Times, Feb 28, 1928, p2) She states that in 1924 "she conceived a motion picture embodying the story, and engaged Sohrab as collaborator. Their manuscript, she says, in December, 1924 was turned over through Hays to De Mille who said he desired to show it to Miss MacPherson...De Mille, Surratt said, returned the manuscript in April, 1925, saying he could not use it.... In May 1927, the film was released, Miss Surratt continued, and it contained the 'plan, scope, scenes, and characters' of the story she wrote with Sohrab"

He found it necessary to go to New York to discuss business matters with Miss Surratt and it was through her that he was introduced to Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler and his wife Julie. Together they formed the "New History Society" in 1929 as a way of spreading the teachings of the Baha'í Faith.

On Mar 10, 1930, "Mirza Ahmad Sohrab" filed a petition for naturalization in the US District Court of New York City. The petition states that he is 39 years old and residing at 28 W 50th Street.

Caravan of East and West

The New History Society gave rise in 1930 to the Caravan of East and West, and the Chanler's New York house was now called Caravan House. A badly reproduced picture of Caravan House may be seen here on page 131 of Sohrab's Autobiography. This foundation was designed to prepare children and youth to join the New History Society. This group had a quarterly magazine called The Caravan, where Sohrab's partial autobiography first appeared. (The autobiography appeared again in 1959, shortly after his death, with a few additional paragraphs.)

"The Caravan of East and West is an educational movement, the chief activity of which is international correspondence. It numbers 1,300 Chapters in 37 countries, with an aggregate membership of 100,000 children, young people and adults. Its publications, The Caravan and Pen Friends Guide, respectively appearing quarterly and monthly, keep the large circle of its readers informed as to the growth and influence of the movement. The New History Society and the Caravan is a movement in itself for the spreading of the Baha'í ideals and principles, independent of and unaffiliated with the Baha'í organization."(Bahai Library "Ferm")

Sohrab had already published a few books, phamplets and a movie scenario, when in 1933, with Julie Chanler he wrote a book that provided an overview of many of the events of the Baha'i movement; it contained a description of the events of the Bab, Baha'u'llah — his claim in the Garden of Ridvan— Tahirih, and Abdu'l-Baha. The book also contains several pictures, including some which may be unique.

The Split

Julie attempted to patch things up between Sohrab and Horace Holley, "one of the chief men in the American Baha'í Administration". (Free Bahais "White") But Sohrab refused to allow the New York Spiritual Assembly, to have oversight of the affairs of the New History Society. Since Holley sat on the National Spiritual Assembly at this time, this led to a confrontation which resulted in Sohrab and the Chanlers being expelled from the Baha'i community about 1939.

It was also in 1939 that Sohrab published his enormous 700-page book, "Bible of Mankind".

Lawsuit

In 1941, Allen McDaniel and others, as members of the National Spiritual Assembly, filed suit against Sohrab to try to stop him from using the name Bahá'í. The NSA felt this created the impression that Sohrab was "connected with and authorized to represent the Baha'í religion..."

This suit was filed in the Supreme Court of New York County. The judge granted a motion to dismiss, stating that "the plaintiffs have no right to a monopoly of the name of a religion. The defendants, who purport to be members of the same religion, have an equal right to use the name of the religion..."

Collaboration with other opponents of Shoghi Effendi

After his excommunication, Sohrab joined forces with other people who opposed Shoghi Effendi. Part of this combination was a court case raised by Qamar Baha'i Jalal the grandson of Mirza Musa and others in about 1950-1, challenging Shoghi Effendi's right to carry out major construction work around the Shrine of Baha'u'llah. One of their key witnesses, Nayyir Afnan, died shortly before the case was due to open, and it all came to nothing. One of the culminations of this was a meeting that was held in Famagusta in the late 1950s. Representatives of all three main generations of Covenant-breakers were present including: Jalal Azal representing the followers of Mirza Yahya, Ismat and others represented the followers of Mirza Muhammad Ali, and Ahmad Sohrab represented those opposed to any form of administration. One of the aims of this conference was to build a mausoleum over the grave of Mirza Yahya. To this end, an amount of money was collected but it "disappeared" and nothing came of the project.(Bahai Library "Exiles")

Final years

In an article Sohrab wrote in 1956 this appears:

[Sohrab] '...now serves as the editor of "The Caravan," an international correspondence club of young people with some 100,000 members. In 1943-44 Sohrab devoted his full time to the Preparation of the Bahai Centennial. He was coauthor of the production called "The Gate" which dramatized the lives of the founders of the Bahai faith and was produced at the Metropolitan Opera House in May of 1944.'

The Caravan eventually severed the links with the Baha'í Faith, but Sohrab, Julie and their organizations continued to promote the interests of the Baha'í Faith as long as they both were living.

The Caravan existed for a time as a worldwide pen-pal club with social ideals. In addition, there are various references to the Caravan Art Gallery at this same address. There are also references in Julie and Sohrab's writings to art showings.

Sohrab died Apr 20, 1958.(The New York Times, Apr 22, 1958; p. 33 "Obituary") In his obituary he is described as "leader of the Reform Baha'í Movement in the United States and co-director of the Caravan of East and West". He died in Doctors hospital in New York City, 20 April 1958.

The New History Society is now defunct, not outliving Sohrab. Caravan House still exists, "Caravan Institute, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1929 to further education and the arts." They have about a million a year in income. (TaxExemptWorld "New York")(Parliamo.com)

Heart Phantasies, (sometime before 1929), date uncertain, but he mentions it on page 126 of his Autobiography as his "first published work", and it is also named on the fly-leaf of Abdul Baha in Egypthere

The New Humanity, appeared daily for sometime in a Santiago newspaper, (sometime before 1929), date uncertain. He mentions it on page 126 of his Autobiography,, as apparently his second published work, and it is also named on the fly-leaf of Abdul Baha in Egypthere

`Abdu'l-Bahá in Egypt. Published by J. H. Sears & Co (New York) for the New History Foundation, 1929. Approved by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada. Digitally republished, East Lansing, Mi.: H-Bahai, 2005. (This is an evidently verbatim copy of the first part of the diary kept by Sohrab, covering the period 1 Jul 1913 to the end of September 1913)

'Abdu'l-Bahá and Mírzá Ahmad Sohrab. Abdul Baha in Egypt. Mírzá Ahmad Sohrab, trans. (New York: J. H. SEARS & COMPANY Inc. for NEW HISTORY FOUNDATION, 1929). Mirza Ahmad Sohrab provided a detailed record of three months of Abdu'l-Bahá's time in Egypt in Abdul Baha in Egypt, in which he includes a historical presentation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's activities while there as well as translations of his talks.

The Song of the Caravan. Another ed. also 1930, New York, The Grayzel Press ed., xii, 410. New York: George Dobsevage for the New History Foundation, 1930.

Daily Independent (Monessen, Pennsylvania), 26 May 1919 : "Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, who once was secretary of the Persian legation in Washington and who accompanied Abdul Baha on his tour when he visited all the countries of the world to urge a universal peace, has come to this country with messages from Abdul Baha, whom the outside world has not heard from for six years."

Daily Independent (Monessen, Pennsylvania), 2 May 1921 : "Feminists Arise in Persia : Insist That Veils Are No Longer Required and That Women Are Independent Thinkers" : "... Professor Fazel...spoke [to the California Club] in musical Persian, his sentences being interpreted as he went along by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab..." [Wire copy from the San Francisco Chronicle]

On this afternoon, in the midst of a joyful company, the marriage of Miss Juanita Marie daughter of Mrs. Johanna of Oakland, Calif. and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, of Isphahan, Persia, was solemnized. The surroundings were beautiful, the large assembly hall of the Engineering Societies' Building being used, the architectural attractions of which were increased by spring flowers and soulful music. Tablets were read by Mr. William H. Hoar and Mr. Howard MacNutt. The spiritual atmosphere was intensified by the harmonious blending of East and West. The past and present were linked in the two ceremonies.

That of the Episcopal Church was read by Dr. William N. Guthrie of New York. The Creative Words of nuptial union, with their brief but impressive majesty, were read by Rev. Howard C. Ives:

"Verily, we are content with the Will of God!"

"Verily, we are satisfied with the Desire of God!"

This attitude of heart and soul is the means of creating loving companionship throughout all the worlds. Miss Rouhieh Jones was maid of honor. The bride was given in marriage by Mr. William H. Hoar and Dr. Frederick W. 'Evelyn was best man.

The Helena Independent (Helena, Montana), 25 Feb 1928 : "De Mille Charged with Play-Theft" : "New York, Feb 24 — Suit charging plagiarism against Cecil DeMille and others interested in the production and showing of the motion picture, 'The King of Kings,' was filed in federal court today by Valeska Suratt, film actress, and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, oriental scholar. They said the ideas on which the cinema was based were stolen from a work written by them"

Petition for Natualization showing "Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, residing at 28 W 50th Street, New York, age 39, certificate issued 10 Mar 1930 by the US District Court of New York City."

Clearfield Progress (Clearfield, Pennsylvania), 19 Mar 1930 : "Curious Oriental Cult" : "...Mirza Ahmad Sohrab...Today he is the leader of U.S. Bahaism, which differs slightly from the Persian. Some 6,000 U.S. cultists are spread throughout the country....Manhattan headquarters under the title of the New History Society are at the home of Mrs. Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler..."

New York Times (New York, NY), 30 Jan 1934, "Bahai Marriage for Miss Nadeau" "New York Girl Will be Wed to Homad Obadie, Native of Baghdad, Thursday" "He Heads Chain of Stores" "Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Director of New History Society, Will Officiate at Ceremony"

Secondary sources

Some Biographical Notes, hosted in the Bahai Library, prefixed to an article called "The Baha'i Cause" which Sohrab submitted to be included in a comprehensive work entitled "Living Schools of Religion". Vergilius Ferm, ed. Ames, Iowa: Littlefield, Adams & Co., 1956. Sohrad's contribution became Chapter 19, "The Baha'i Cause," by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab (pages 309-14).